Shit!
I mentally crossed my fingers that they’d just checked that my car was present before coming into the restaurant and hadn’t, like, spiked my tires or anything. They didn’t usually destroy my possessions, but I’d pushed the limit back in the restaurant.
I wasn’t sorry, though. In fact, I was beginning to think I should always pursue that line of action. I was tired of trying to pretend I was impervious to their trolling, tired of trying to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible lest any of them settheir sights on me. Maybe a more proactive way of handling the situation would be prudent.
Time would tell, I supposed.
“Here, allow me,” he said, releasing my arm only to go to the driver’s side of my car and grip the handle. He waited there, sending me a bemused look.
Oh right, I supposed unlocking the car was a necessary part of the whole opening-the-door process.
“One sec,” I said, pulling my clutch off my arm and digging around for my overloaded keychain.
But I never quite got them in my hand before I heard a sound that made my blood simultaneously run cold and also burn hot enough to erupt like a volcano.
It started off as a low growl, rumbling and full of threat. I recognized it instantly, as it was a warning that I’d heard Maverick practice over and over again after he’d hit puberty and gotten his designation.
“Rowan!”
A massive alpha wolf leapt out of the dark alley and onto the roof of my car, stooping low to roar directly in my date’s face!
I knew what he was doing. He was trying to get back at the human for emasculating him earlier.
I was even more done than I was before, something I didn’t think was possible.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I shrieked.
I wasn’t sure what possessed me, or that I could move that fast in heels, but suddenly I was between the two and whacking my clutch against my brother’s furred skull. A skull, mind you, that was almost as big as my entire torso.
“Maverick! Get a fucking hold of yourself! Are you really risking our entire species because your ego got bruised? God, I knew you were never the smart brother, but use your goddamn brain!”
Some part of my mind had expected my brother to snarl at me, perhaps even to fight back, but instead his roar cut off in almost a comical squeak and he was looking at me with a sort of shock that didn’t appear that natural on a wolf’s features.
“I could report you, you know! You big, dumb idiot! Did you ever think of that? And what about Rowan? Are you really so fucking delicate that you want him to be eradicated for knowing about us?”
That was really the worst-case possibility. After all, everyone knew at least a couple humans who were trusted with the existence of a magical creature or two, but itwasa possibility. Although we magical folks had no one set government, all our leaders agreed that keeping our existence hidden from the general population of humans was imperative, and there was a combined force of special agents who worked as cleaners whenever the wrong person found out too much.
“I’m sick of this, and I’m sick of all of you!” I said, still whacking my brother with my purse. The handle was beginning to loosen, but whatever. I’d gotten it on clearance when I was in college, and it was probably time to retire it anyway. “You don’t want me at home, you constantly belittle me and mock me whenever I do come around, and when I finally branch out on my own and find someone who actually values me, you try to sabotage that too! Ridiculous.”
I was vaguely aware that my other two brothers were standing at the edge of the alley, and while I couldn’t clock their expressions, I did notice that they weren’t making any moves to interfere.
Good.
I only had one purse.
“Get the hell out of here, and leave me alone! Do you hear me? God, ruining my night and trying to put an innocent human in danger just to make yourself feel powerful? I’ve always knownthat you were insecure, but this really proves that the only thing that’s ever been special about you is what your genetics gave you.
“Get lost, Maverick. I’m serious.”
I expected my brother to find his vocal cords again, to maybe lash out at me, shove me, or even shift back into a human and go off at me, but he stayed on the roof of my car, stupid nails no doubt scratching my paint. I’d have him pay for that later. Assuming I survived, that was.
But that moment of rejoinder never came. The only thing he did was let out a huff, then bounded off into the night. My other two brothers lingered like they weren’t sure what to say or do, but eventually they shifted and headed off as well. I hoped they took back roads, as a trio of wolves running through the city would raise far more eyebrows than anyone wanted.
That was their problem, though. Not mine. As far as I was concerned, I was pretty much done with my family unless they turned over a major leaf. Because finally, for the first time in my life, I’d found real community, and I wasn’t about to risk it for a bunch of assholes who thought it was funny to tear me down every day.
“Are you okay?” I asked, turning to Rowan once we were alone again. Immediately, I clocked that his eyes were wide, his pale, almost invisible brows up to his hairline. That was when the horror of everything that happened set in. Shit. Not only did he now know shifters existed, but he also knew my brother was one. And I had been hitting him so hard that I’d managed to nearly completely disconnect the handles from my purse. Not quite freakish levels of strength, but definitely more than one would expect from a stereotypical human woman.
Fuck. I’d ruined everything.
